Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
Man confesses to killing boy who vanished 33 years ago. Story haunted New Yorkers, as did the boy's picture: "Forever young, like a shaggy-haired boy king, counterposed with all of the ideas of what could have happened to his body"
Zetas drug cartel was formed by ex-special forces soldiers. It now has more than 10,000 men under arms. And a deserved reputation for unspeakable violence in its drive to dominate the lucrative drug trade with the US
The Obama government has rationalised its failure to prosecute anyone (literally, anyone at all) for bubble-related crimes by saying that while much of Wall St's behaviour was unwise or unethical, it wasn't illegal. What rubbish
Good question, good answer. "If by contract you mean 'a contract as typically defined at law', which is to say a contract that has most of the legal consequences that a typical contract has, then the answer is: Largely not"
World's most popular sport is deeply corrupt. Football (soccer) "match fixing has become a massive worldwide crime, on par with drug trafficking, prostitution and the trade in illegal weapons." A key fixer says he'll lift the lid
Report from high-security prison in Norway. Where rehabilitation is focus, not retribution. Prisoners include murderers, paedophiles. Yet every cell has flat-screen TV and private shower. Warden can't remember last fight
Story of Hans-Jürgen Kuhl. Made fortune in leather hot pants. Bankrupt, turned to "art". His quest? A perfect $100 bill. "Warhol copied currency, and his prints are now priceless. Kuhl copied currency, got busted, and is now broke"
Married to the 'Ndrangheta. "Ms Cacciola was forced into a loveless marriage at the age of 16, with a man who almost immediately disappeared into the solitary confinement wing of a prison. From then on, she was rarely allowed out"
Troubling story of Carlos DeLuna, executed in 1989 for the brutal murder of a young woman. DeLuna always insisted that the killer was a lookalike, Carlos Hernandez. But police denied Hernandez even existed. They were wrong
How America's Supreme Court rewrote campaign finance law in the case of Citizens United. "The decision followed a lengthy and bitter behind-the-scenes struggle that produced both secret unpublished opinions and a rare reargument"
Incarceration rate highest in US, triple Iran's, seven times China's. Most prisoners are in privately owned prisons. Prison profits help pay for law enforcement. Strong chain of incentives for local sheriffs to keep prisons full
How one man fooled some of the world's most knowledgeable wine collectors. It's easy to say they should have spotted the con, now that Rudy Kurniawan has been indicted for fraud. But vanity, greed, credulity can be a powerful brew
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"If you'd rather not obey the same laws as everyone else, just make sure your objection is labelled 'religious'"
